1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computers and, more particularly, to methods and systems for integrating online community resources with program development environments.
2. Background and Relevant Art
As the computer industry continues to develop, so do the means for communicating through computing devices. It is now commonplace, for example, to use personal computers to communicate via e-mail, facsimile, instant messaging (IM), telephony, video teleconferencing (VTC), and so forth. The ability to communicate through personal computers is largely enabled by the use of the Internet and other similar networks. In addition to enabling communication, the Internet also provides access to a large variety of information that is stored in the various computers that are linked together by the Internet. Inasmuch as both people and information can be accessed through the Internet, and other such networks, they are both referred to herein as online community resources.
Advances in the computer industry have also improved the systems and program development environments that are used to develop code and create computer programs. These systems and environments are collectively referred to herein as Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). IDEs often include graphical interfaces comprising toolboxes of components that can be used for developing code. Non-limiting examples of programming components include controls, IDE extensions and plugins.
A Rapid Application Development (RAD) system, which exemplifies one type of an IDE, includes visual tools that can be selected by a programmer to build programs very quickly in a design environment without requiring the programmer to author every line of code. RAD systems historically emphasized the programming speed at which code could be developed at the expense of generating efficient code. However, they can now be used to produce code quickly and without compromising the efficiency of the code.
Other traditional programming environments have also made improvements that enable them to utilize many of the visual tools and graphical interfaces that were previously available only in a RAD system. Accordingly, the distinction between RAD systems and non-RAD systems is somewhat blurred. Therefore, embodiments within the scope of the present application extend broadly to any IDE.
Although existing IDEs are useful, they are also somewhat limited because they fail to provide access to online community resources that could otherwise facilitate the development of computing programs within the IDEs. In particular, existing IDEs do not currently provide tools or interfaces that enable a programmer to directly access and communicate with others through the Internet. Existing IDEs also fail to provide direct access to information that can be obtained from the Internet. Instead, programmers must access the Internet externally from the IDE in which they are working in order to access the desired online community resources.